Scribal Culture

One of the things that is the most fun to watch is how Ellie tries to do everything that Margaret can do.  Last night, during dinner, Margaret pushed her sleeves up, and Ellie got really frustrated trying to do hers.  It subsided once we figured out what the problem was, and it was -- in retrospect -- really, really cute.

But Ellie really, really, really wants to be like her big sister.

It is adorable.  Very, very adorable.  And I'm hoping that the age difference is small enough that there isn't too much time that Margaret finds it annoying.

No, Dear

Ellie has learned, as Margaret did, the sign for more, though she only ever applies it to food.  Unfortunately, she doesn't necessarily know how to apply it properly.  For example, the other day she asked for more food, but externally apparent evidence suggested that she did not need to have more banana, no not at all.

She recovered relatively quickly from the disappointment of being denied more banana.

And proudly showed off her exceptionally well-developed pincer grip skills.

So it all turned out all right.

Also, this is a banana-eating habit, not an aberration.

I'm Thinking About Disowning Her

So Margaret has been very insistent the past week or so that we need to have picnics more often, and she really likes to go to the store and pick out things for her picnic.

The other day she convinced me that we needed to get cupcakes for our picnic.  I am a soft touch, particularly when I have both children in the grocery store and they are behaving beautifully.  So we got cupcakes.  And Margaret loved them.

Ellie, on the other hand, was very, very suspicious.

I like the way she tells her cupcake where to get off.  But I'm not sure what sort of child rejects a cupcake.  It worries me.

Little Privacy, Folks?

This morning, while Margaret labored in the fields of education (and, just for those of you who are interested, produced a very passable paper flower AND managed to dip a great deal of her hair in green paint), Ellie took advantage of the peace and quiet to have a nice, relaxing bath, where the only elbows and knees flailing about were her own, and there was no one waiting until she had found a toy that she liked, and then ripping it out of her hands.

It was a lovely experience.

Until people started snapping pictures, and saying "smile, honey" and -- and this is the most terrible thing of all -- REMOVING HER PACIFIER.

Humph.  She snorted loudly, though, and the photographers backed off.  And she continued to have her bath right up until the point that she decided that it would be funny to take her boat-shaped pitcher and tip it out of the bath, and then when she was told not to, she looked me in the eye, giggled, and proceeded to do it anyway.

She has become wicked.

Not. Having. That.

I neglected to mention in my posts on Margaret's flower-picking propensities last night that she also has developed a really adorable habit of putting flowers in people's (well, Ellie's) hair.  And then asking me to put them in her hair.  But mostly just harassing Ellie by trying to put flowers that she doesn't want into her ears.

Ellie does not appreciate this.

 She came around eventually, but her initial reaction was clearly that if this is the sort of thing one has to do in order to go to San Francisco, she is crossing that western city off of her must-visit list.

But it grew on her.*

Margaret liked it so much she made me put one in the other side, but then immediately ran off to peer at her reflection in the side of the car that I didn't get a picture.

*Not literally.  We wash her ears more often than that.

Defoliation Squad Mobilised

I had forgotten something about my daughter Margaret.  I had forgotten that Spring brings many things, such as warm weather and chirping birds and green grass and flowers.

It is to the flowers that I now turn.

Or rather, to the naked stalks, because Margaret has been at the flowers again.  She loves to give people flowers, and so when they are there, sitting, unattended, she feels that she HAS to gather them up.

And when no more worthy object presents itself, she gives them to Ellie, whether Ellie wants them or not.*

*You may recall Ellie had a very different opinion on this last year.

Sick. Sick, Sick, Sick, Sick. Sick.

We have been sick, sick, very sick.

We had a week where everyone had pinkeye, ear infections, and nasty colds.

And then last week we were busy because we had to do all the things that we hadn't done the week before.

And now, Ellie is having a mysterious ailment that has, over the last few days, rocketed her temperature up with no other real symptoms.  It seems to be down now, but it has been time consuming and tiring.

Anyway, here is a picture of her in that brief window when everyone was healthy.